The International Committee to Save the Archeological Sites of Pasargad has the undying gratitude of the diverse people of the Greater Iran for its work in safeguarding these magnificent symbols of Iran’s luminous past which serve as beacons for guiding all people in their quest for freedom and dignity.
The arduous task undertaken by the Committee to Save the Archeological Sites of Pasargad is all the more difficult in the face of the present Islamic regime’s relentless barbaric attempts to wipe out any and all vestiges of Iran’s proud and praiseworthy cultural heritage. To these barbaric Islamists, any ideals or symbols representing humanity’s non-Islamic enlightenment is good only for the fire of their bigotry.
A seminal achievement of Cyrus the Great is his pioneer work in promotion of human rights. Using the power of his office to good effect, he decreed a universal charter for human rights for all people. The king’s edict for equality of rights for all people served advancing the social and cultural precepts of the diverse people throughout the vast expanse of his empire. Although ethnically Persian, the benevolent king considered himself a trustee of the diverse nationalities of his kingdom. Parochialism and ethnocentrism were alien to this visionary monarch.
An illustration of the benevolent beliefs and practices launched by this great historical visionary is his landmark action 539 B.C. Having conquered Babylon, the benevolent King Cyrus freed the Jews from captivity and empowered them to return to the Promised Land and build their temple.
For his acts of kindness, Cyrus the Great is immortalized in the Bible in several passages and is called “the anointed of the Lord.” The Jews, throughout recorded history, looked to Cyrus’ people, the Iranians, as their friends and protectors against oppressors such as the Seleucids and the Romans.
Cyrus the Great is deeply revered for his great tolerance and just treatment of the conquered nations in his vast empire. He is celebrated, to this day, by the generality of mankind for enshrining fundamental human rights in his Cylinder as the standard for his time and for all times.
In the same way that Cyrus the Great considered all people members of the same human family, the human family of today holds the great trailblazer of human rights as one of its own. The vast plateau that Iran is its heartland at the present has been inhabited by the most diverse people of any region of the planet. Yet, in adherence to the lofty principles of Cyrus, these people found unity in diversity. They have remained loyal to their own unique heritage and successfully linked it to a larger loyalty. The present Iran is a living testimony to this remarkable togetherness where ethnic Persians, Turkic, Kurds, Lurs, Turkmen, Baluchis, Arabs, and others live as one people: a great template for the entire world to emulate.
For some 1400 years the viral disease of Islamism has been devouring the very fabric of our nation and our identity. Millions and generations of our people have paid dearly and often with their lives for this affliction visited upon us. Yet, millions and generations have bravely managed to retain the identity and values that make us proud to be Cyrus’s descendants.
As Iranians, it is propitious at this time to take stock of our present condition and to renew our resolve to do all we must and is in our power to rescue Iran from the suffocating quagmire of Islamism and return our nation to its rightful historic place: A place in the vanguard of a civilized world where justice and liberty rule supreme for the entirety of humanity.
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Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist residing in the United States of America. Imani is a columnist, literary translator, novelist and an essayist who has been writing and speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran. He and his family escaped Iran after the radical Islamic revolution.
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